Is This Celiac/gluten Intolerance Or Something Else?

[ancestralstars]

Greetings all. My symptoms point to celiac or at least a strong sensitivity to gluten but symptoms do not seem to make sense in some ways. I will be visiting a doctor at some point but I would like to go with a general idea of what should be tested for.

 

Symptoms:

 

Ingestion of a flour tortilla or amys pizza (high quality frozen pizza):

 

Foggy brain, mild feeling of irritated stomach/intestines. Joints feel agitated and I want to take a nap.

 

Ingestion of highly processed gluten in junk such as eat a cheeseburger, a soft serve cone, anything fried, or whenever gluten is found with sugar such as a cookie or something:

 

IMEDIATE (as in far too soon for the food to have actually been digested ??) bleeding from anus. A pretty fair amount could even be mistaken for getting my period. It feels like I am digesting glass and I can be laid out napping the entire day.

 

The reason this doesnt make sense to me is that isnt gluten responssible for the chewyness of bread? so wouldnt there be far more in a pizza crst and a tortilla then highly processed bread crumbs or a sugar cone? How could I react within 10-15 min with rectal bleeding when that is far too early to have even digested the gluten?

 

Thank you in advance this disturbs me greatly!

 

*note- I dont eat junk food regularly or anything in fact I wonder if that may be making it worse when I do have something bad. I have been living 99% gluten free for a year or so now.

[EricaM15]

I found that junk foods just made my symptoms that much worse, so that could be part of it. You may also have other sensitivities without realizing it. The amount of gluten wouldn't necessarily matter to a person with Celiac or gluten intolerance, as any amount of gluten can cause a reaction. However, one of the things that made me realize I was gluten intolerant in the first place was seitan. Seitan is used as a substitute for meat and it's essentially pure gluten. Before I went gluten-free, I once went to a vegan restaurant and ate a sandwich with seitan roast beef. My stomach started bothering me before I finished eating it, and then I threw it all up as soon as I got home.

[ancestralstars]

Thank you for sharing that with me EricaM15   I do wonder if I may have other sensitivities that exacerbate the gluten exposure in some foods. I just cant figure out a commen ingredient!

[EricaM15]

Based on the foods you mentioned, dairy sounds like a possibility.

[ancestralstars]

EricaM15 I have often heard that dairy and wheat allergies go hand in hand. I am mildly allergic to whey but unless I consume extremely large amounts of dairy it generally isnt an issue. I get mild raspy throat and cold like symptoms. Never anything as severe as I mentioned above. Also the amys pizza and tortilla (was a burritio that had cheese) did not make me react as severely. Also when I consume fried food it is only in the form of tempura in sushi there is no dairy invovled.

 

Trust me this has been driving me nuts for almost a year now! I just cant figure out this puzzle!

 

Also... is the bleeding thing a normal celiac response? I cant seem to find a clear answer online for that.

[EricaM15]

You can call me Erica.

 

I was previously misdiagnosed with IBS and I was never able to eat greasy food without paying a price. I think untreated gluten intolerance exaserbates sensitivities to food in general. After going gluten-free (before I discovered additional sensitivities), I was actually able to handle greasy foods better than I could before, but unfortunately, I can't eat those foods now. If you're reacting to dairy at all, I'd consider that a sign of a food sensitivity. Casein, a protein in cow's milk, can often cause a latent reaction the way gluten does. I didn't think I was sensitive to dairy either. I would get a stomach ache and diarrhea right after having something like ice cream, but everything else was just random. I tried slowly eliminating it anyway since I knew it was probably a problem. Eventually I went a week or two without any dairy. Then I just happened to have some cheese on a sandwich without really thinking about it, and the next day I was in soooo much pain. I haven't had any dairy since.

 

You most likely have food sensitivities. I saw several doctors for several symptoms that I had, which were all caused by Celiac, but I never got a Celiac diagnosis because I tested negative and was never offered an endoscopy and I didn't know that was part of the diagnostic process until much later. If you want an official diagnosis, don't stop eating gluten before you're tested, otherwise you'll definitely test negative. However, even if you do test negative (like I did) and your endoscopy happens to be clean, I would recommend you try going gluten-free, regardless. It's easy to get a false negative.

 

Bleeding could be a sign of an anal fissure from strain on the tissue. I'm sure it's possible for Celiac to cause it, but it could also be a lot of other things. You should definitely see a doctor and make sure it's not something else like Crohn's, although Crohn's patients can also benefit from going gluten-free.

[ancestralstars]

Erica ( ) ,

 

The bleeding was not coupled with actual passing of stool. I ate the offending item and as I was walking home (very nearby) I started bleeding profusely. As for the actual diagnosis will it actually help me in any way? I can barely imagine eating gluten for weeks on end on purpose!! As for the dairy I really think you have made some great points. I have been considerig elimiating it from my diet and I really think I should at least to do so now.

 

Thank you!